All Projects

This project will support a civic engagement cohort that will be offered in southwest Minnesota to foster partnering and build capacity of local government, organizations, and residents for effective civic engagement in water protection and restoration. This project will also build networks and the skill set of local resource professionals to do effective civic engagement work for water restoration and protection. The cohort will be administered through the Minnesota River Board (MRB), established in 1995 with a goal of focusing water management efforts on the local level.

This project will provide fiscal resources for South St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District (SSLCSWCD) to participate and lead efforts to attain geomorphic data sets, dissolved oxygen assessments, culvert inventory, and civic engagement activities in three major watersheds, Nemadji River, South Lake Superior and St. Louis River. This work is currently being worked on as a part of the MPCA’s Watershed Restoration and Protection Planning efforts.

The goal of this project is to construct, calibrate, and validate one fine-scale Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model for the Duluth Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) project area for the simulation period 1995–2012. In addition, an existing condition (post-2012 flood) model scenario will be developed for use in WRAPS development. The contractor will produce HSPF models that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter TMDLs.

The goal of this project is to construct, calibrate, and validate three HSPF watershed models. The project will result in HSPF models that can readily be used to provide information to support conventional parameter TMDLs. The models are expected to generate predicted output timeseries for hydrology, sediment, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen which are consistent with available sets of observed data.

The goal of this project is to construct watershed models for the Grand Marais Creek and Snake River Watersheds and perform an initial hydrologic calibration using Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF).

The goal of this project is to extend the existing HSPF models through 2012 in the Chippewa Watershed (07020005) and Hawk-Yellow Medicine Watershed (07020004) to incorporate recent monitoring data to support current MPCA business needs and sediment source investigations.

This project will complete spatial and temporal revisions of 6 Hydrologic Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models, the recalibration and validation of 7 watershed HSPF models, and the revision of the drainage network and point source representation of the Pomme de Terre HSPF model.

The Minnesota River Basin Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) models simulate sediment erosion and transport, however these models periodically need to be adjusted to be consistent with the most recent sources of information regarding sediment distribution and loading rates. The goal of this project is to refine the sediment source partitioning and simulation in the Minnesota River basin using all relevant available sources of information.

This project will gather watershed data necessary for the development of a comprehensive watershed management plan with parameter-specific thresholds that will maintain or improve water quality for the Kawishiwi Watershed.

This project will provide a protocol for prioritizing sites in the St. Louis Area of Concern (AOC ) for restoration based on site-specific bioavailability considerations. Despite large data collection efforts focused on sediment chemistry, the extent to which sediment with moderate levels of contamination is available for uptake into biota and therefore contributing to Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI)s is still largely unknown.

This project will gather watershed data necessary for the development of a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) report to maintain and improve water quality for the St Louis River Watershed.

This project will provide technical, planning and engineering assistance to the MPCA for the development and implementation of the St. Louis River Remedial Action Plan (RAP). USACE and USEPA in partnership with the MPCA will administer work plans to complete a sediment assessment for Minnesota areas within Superior Bay, St. Louis Bay, Lower St. Louis River and the Upper St. Louis River, encompassing approximately 5,349 acres of the St. Louis River and Estuary.

This project will support water quality monitoring and data analysis in the Red River Basin. The monitoring will assist in providing water chemistry data needed to calculate annual pollutant loads for the Major Watershed Load Monitoring Program (MWLMP) and provide short term data sets of select parameters to other MPCA programs.

This project will update sediment Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for 60-64 impaired stream reaches and provide a final TMDL report. The report will address sediment and turbidity impaired streams in the Minnesota River Watershed. TMDLs will describe the impairment in each water body and water quality targets, and will include a discussion of pollutant sources, supporting report components that document assumptions and methodologies, and TMDL equations with completed load allocations, wasteload allocations, and margin of safety for each impairment.

This project supports monitoring and assessment activities by MPCA EAO staff and includes lab analysis, equipment, and fieldwork expenses associated with monitoring and assessment activities within the described priority watersheds.

Lake Monitoring: Lakes are monitored for nutrients, clarity and other information to provide the data needed to assess the aquatic recreation use support.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will coordinate the collection of high-resolution elevation data for northeastern portion of Minnesota using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems. The geographic area of the work includes Minnesota counties of Carlton, Cook, Lake, and St. Louis Counties and that portion of Koochiching County that comprises Voyageurs National Park.

Minnesota Clean Water Funds will be used to complete a paleolimological study of the St. Louis River Estuary for the purpose of providing information critical to removing Beneficial Use Impairments in the St. Louis River Area of Concern. This project will reconstruct the biological (algal load and composition), geochemical (organic and inorganic), sediment, and mercury chronology to identify historical temporal and spatial variations in the St. Louis River Estuary in order to better understand the natural and anthropogenic drivers related to beneficial use impairments for the St.

This project will collect real-time parameter data for specific conductance, water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and stream flow at the United States geological Survey (USGS) gaging stations located at Fargo, ND and Grand Forks, ND on the Red River of the North; and publish the data both on the USGS NWIS website and in the USGS Annual Report.

This project will support water quality monitoring and data analysis in nine major watersheds (8-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes) of the Lower Red River Basin. The monitoring will assist in providing water chemistry data needed to calculate annual pollutant loads for the Major Watershed Load Monitoring Program (MWLMP) and provide short term data sets of select parameters to other MPCA programs.

The objective of this project is to collect real-time parameter data for specific conductance, water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and stream flow at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) gaging stations located at Fargo and Grand Forks North Dakota.

The purpose of this project is to improve understanding of primary productivity in the Red River and the diversity and population structure of the algal communities occurring along the river system. This will be accomplished through taxonomic identification of periphyton and phytoplankton assemblages necessary for characterizing responses to nutrient gradients along the Red River of the North.

This project will develop an effective transferable model to engage and educate watershed residents, stakeholders and others to better understand and protect watershed ecostystems through environmental monitoring, training, and formal and informal education programs in their local watershed. The project will build on the foundation of the existing Red River Basin River Watch program by strengthening three main activity areas: 1) curriculum integration and teacher training, 2) youth leadership and civic engagement, and 3) applied research collaboration and watershed science skills building.

This project will monitor nine locations in the major watersheds (8-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes) of the Lower Red River Basin. The stream outlet monitoring will provide the water chemistry data needed to calculate annual pollutant loads. Staff from the Red River Watershed Management Board (RRWMB) will conduct the sampling, initially manage the data and provide the data to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for load calculations and import into the STORET data system.

MN Legislative Clean Water Fund funding to engage citizens in local watershed monitoring, work with regional partners to promote understanding and protection of watersheds, and organize and facilitate gathering of scientific data all for the benefit of water quality in the Red River Basin.

The MPCA and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) are currently working together to implement a comprehensive long-term plan to delist the Saint Louis River Area of Concern (SLR AOC). Many of the Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in the AOC are linked to the presence of sediment contaminants. The site consists of a former shipping slip in the Duluth Harbor that now serves as a private marina as well as the location of the William A. Irvin shipping vessel and museum.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) are currently working together to implement a comprehensive long-term plan to delist the Saint Louis River Area of Concern (SLR AOC). Many of the Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in the AOC are linked to the presence of sediment contaminants.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) are currently working together to implement a comprehensive long-term plan to delist the Saint Louis River Area of Concern (SLR AOC). Many of the Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in the AOC are linked to the presence of sediment contaminants. A Remedial investigation was completed at the Site and contaminated sediment was identified at the head of the slip. Based on a review of historical use around the Site, upland sources of contamination may exist around the Site.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is currently working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and private consultants as part of the Great Lakes Area of Concern (AOC) program to identify and remediate bed sediments contaminated with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (dioxins) in reservoirs in the St. Louis River watershed of the Lake Superior Basin. Two reservoirs in the St. Louis River watershed where dioxins in bed sediments are a concern are Thomson and Scanlon Reservoirs near Cloquet, Minnesota.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) are currently working together to implement a comprehensive long-term plan to delist the Saint Louis River Area of Concern (SLR AOC). Many of the Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in the AOC are linked to the presence of sediment contaminants. This activity is for sediment sampling field work which will be conducted at Munger Landing in the SLR AOC. Bay West will complete supplemental sediment sampling, a bed load study, a technical memorandum, and a focused feasibility study addendum.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) are currently working together to implement a comprehensive long-term plan to delist the Saint Louis River Area of Concern (SLR AOC). Many of the Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in the AOC are linked to the presence of sediment contaminants. Bay West understands the MPCA is overseeing sediment remedial actions at Slip C.

The activity is for sediment sample preparation for cores collected at AGP/Northland Slip (AGP) and Azcon/DSPA Slip (Azcon) located in the St. Louis River (SLR) Area of Concern (AOC) in Duluth, Minnesota.